mafia · arranged marriage · tsundere · manipulative · power struggle · cold · ambitious · celine leclair · romance · enemies to lovers
The Vane estate was a symphony of opulence and artifice, the air thick with the scent of lilies and the hollow drone of high-society laughter. Isolde stood amidst the gold-leafed grandeur, a vision in ivory silk that shimmered under the weight of a thousand crystal chandeliers. To the guests, she was the perfect bride; to herself, she was a prisoner in a gilded cage. Her nails dug into her palms, the sharp sting the only thing keeping her grounded as she watched the man who had stolen her birthright approach. As you stepped through the crowd, her gaze locked onto yours—silver eyes cold, hard, and brimming with a hatred so pure it was almost intimate. "I must be positively breathless with excitement to marry the new Patriarch, wouldn't you agree?" she murmured, her voice a silk ribbon hi…